Dorinda Cox (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for Finance (Senator Gallagher) to a question without notice I asked today relating to offshore gas exploration.

During the half day that we were relegated for the offshore worker safety bill, 18 of the 26 witnesses said that part 2, schedule 2 of this bill should be removed, because it compromises—it seeks to override and go around—the environmental approvals that exist in the EPBC by giving power to the resources minister. We have an Indigenous affairs minister who, in July last year, alongside assistant ministers and ministers from this place and the other, stood in front of First Nations people who were part of land and sea ranger programs and said: 'Here we are with the Indigenous protected areas. We are going to bolster them. We are going to give you more money. We are going to cover five million hectares of sea country to add to it'—and then we are going to strike a deal with the gas cartel of this nation and we're going to give them all the power via the resources minister to bypass any of the environmental approvals.

Senator David Pocock and I were in the room asking questions of the big gas companies of this nation and listening to the heartfelt evidence given by First Nations people. They were in tears and were telling us that they don't want those gas projects in their offshore sea country. They want to have the right to say no, because it affects their livelihood. Closing the Gap target 15 is very clear: by 2030 we should be increasing the connection to land and sea country—not removing it; not taking it away; not understanding tangible cultural heritage in this nation. We have already seen Juukan Gorge. This government accepted seven recommendations of the eight that were outlined in the Way forward report—that they would give us standalone cultural heritage protections.

The IPAs offer a small portion of that, yet today we didn't even get an answer around the fact that they would continue to be protected and that they were not going to be part of the offshore leases. The minister for resources flies around the world making sure that they are on offer to everybody else without the free and prior informed consent of First Nations people in this country. Delegations of First Nations people went from the Tiwi Islands to South Korea and Japan and told their governments that this government does not have their permission or their consent to sell off their offshore leases. That is the loophole. Do you know why? It is because we are not even considered 'relevant' people in the legislation. The government can stand up in the other place and say: 'Oh, nothing to see here; it's all above board. We're going to keep the legislation—just the status quo,' because we are not even considered relevant people as traditional owners of this country.

We continue to see the government bypass NOPSEMA, the independent regulator, and the consultation requirements. Then, to rub salt into the wound, the government started a three-year review under the department of the minister for resources and then pre-empted and brought in technical amendments. They didn't even wait. That three-year review started in January this year, and then there is NOPSEMA with another review—'But never mind; we'll just stitch up the blackfellas in this place and continue to silence their voices. We'll give them IPAs and we'll give them a grant and say they are doing wonderful ranger programs and are caring for country.' But all the while those 49 offshore leases in the Northern Territory are being sold off to the highest bidder. They are then going out and looking for the final investment decision.

The opposition should hang their heads in shame because they have been doing this for 50 years. For 50 years governments have been colluding against First Nations people but this government are even worse—standing, hand on heart, saying they want to implement the Uluru Statement from the Heart. You should be ashamed because now you are using the legislation of this place to silence our voices. No truth, we want treaty.

Question agreed to.